Page 19 of Burn it Down

He must read my confusion because he mutters, his voice like gravel, "Some things are just... embedded in our DNA. And chasing you, pinning you down and fucking you until you understand just how much you belong to me, that's coursing through my veins."

I swallow hard, and he pulls my hips to his, grinding against me. Thick, hard heat is all I feel pressed against me. I can feel the blush creeping up my neck at the heavy feel of him.

“I need it. I crave it. I have to have it. But it has to be the right time,” he says as his lips brush my ear. "I need you to want it just as much as I do, baby."

“Riven, I …” I start, but he shakes his head like he needs me to just listen.

“You’re mine,” he tells me. “No one else’s. No one touches you. No one even looks at you. I don’t know how to exist without you, Lakynn. I’ll make you see it. Feel it. You’ll never doubt it again. I won’t ever allow it.”

My hand moves before I think. I reach up, almost instinctively, brushing away the blood on his face with the edge of my thumb. My skin drags across his cheekbone, gentle, careful, and then I freeze.

What am I doing? It was this side of one day ago I was crying into my pillow over the very same boy standing in front of me right now. I try to pull away, but he catches my wrist in one swift movement.

“Don’t,” he breathes. His grip is firm, but not painful. He brings my hand back to his face, holding it there like it’s the only thing keeping him together.

“Please,” he whispers, eyes fluttering shut as he leans into my palm. “Touch me. Please.”

Something inside me splinters. I shouldn’t. I know I shouldn’t.

But I can’t help it.

I give in.

I press my hand more firmly to his cheek, and he exhales like he’s waited lifetimes for this.

His lips graze my palm. Then he turns my wrist and kisses the inside of it, slow and reverent. “I agonized dreaming of the way this would feel,” he says.

“Me touching your face?” I ask, barely audible.

His gray eyes flash up to mine. There are so many things swirling in their depths right now.

Dark. Seductive. Needy.

“I’ve thought about every inch of you a million times over. There is not one other thought inside my brain that isn’t related to you.”

And just like that, I forget how to breathe.

RIVEN

It was hard not to ravage Lakynn right there in that field, but I refused to touch her beautiful body for the first time while my hands are covered in another man’s blood. She fights me on it, but ultimately lets me carry her up to the barn on the Kozlov property so we can wash up. I know our father is aware of my presence in our little town. He’s probably looking for me, or at the very least waiting for me to show up, so I left the truck down in the field. He didn’t build the Kozlov empire by being clueless. He knows he’s on my list of people to eliminate before we leave town.

Once I’m satisfied that there isn’t a trace of that fucker’s blood on either of us, I scoop Lakynn back up in my arms and set her down on the workbench like she’s breakable.

She’s not. God, she’s never been. She’s a wildfire wrapped in fucking lace, and I’d let her burn me to the bone if it meant I could keep her close. But after the way I found her staring down a man who only wanted to hurt her, I handle her like she’s made of glass. I take a deep breath because she’s something I’ve been missing my whole fucking life.

I’m buzzing.

My blood is pumping so loud in my ears. I can still hear the wet crack of Matthew’s ribs shattering beneath my boot. I can still taste the violence on my tongue. I should be reeling from that, but I’m not. I’m high on my girl and what I did for her. High on whatever this is between us.

Her legs dangle over the edge, shoes muddy, hair wild from running. Her cheeks are flushed, her mouth red from the cold, and I swear to God she’s never looked more like mine.

I step between her knees, just close enough to touch, but I don’t. Not yet. I let my fingers tangle in the ends of her hair, twisting it slowly around my knuckles, watching how it coils and catches.

She doesn’t stop me.

I stare at her like I’ll never get enough. I won’t. There’s not a reality where this girl isn’t the entire center of my existence. I could breathe her in for the rest of my life and still feel like I’m starving.

“You can be mad at me,” I murmur. “But I’m not going anywhere without you.”

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